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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26888998">Ice Cream and Impending Doom</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluegeekEM/pseuds/bluegeekEM'>bluegeekEM</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Promptober 2020 [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Red White &amp; Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Banter, Henry is the reasonable one, M/M, Podfic Welcome, Power Outage, Referenced law school, Vacation, no beta we die like Senator Richards' political career, this time, why yes failing a class is of equal importance to ice cream</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 21:33:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>922</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26888998</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluegeekEM/pseuds/bluegeekEM</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A power outage halts Alex's progress on an important paper.  Henry would just like Alex to stop panicking so he can enjoy a holiday with his partner and an ice cream.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Promptober 2020 [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1950826</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>74</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Ice Cream and Impending Doom</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Day seven's promptober prompt was unexpected - I lost power to half of my apartment today (yeah, you read that right, and it wasn't the fuse box) which created a fair few problems that needed solving unexpectedly.  So a power outage story it is!  Twitter helpfully provided the fandom ;)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“How can this be happening?”  Alex collapsed sideways into Henry’s lap in despair.  </p><p>He felt Henry’s fingers begin to glide through his hair soothingly.  It felt nice, familiar.  Though usually Alex being in Henry’s lap occurred in a very different context.  </p><p>Before he could get too sidetracked, Alex’s brain snapped his attention back to the emergency at hand.</p><p>“I’m doomed!”</p><p>“You aren’t doomed,” Henry replied mildly.  His eyes didn’t leave his book.</p><p>Alex turned to look at him in disbelief.  “We are in the middle of nowhere upstate and the power just went out!  There is no back-up generator, meaning there is no internet!  And this assignment is due by midnight!  How is this not being doomed?”</p><p>Henry angled his head in thought.  “There are no zombies.  This seems like exactly the scenario that would involve zombies if this were a film.”  He shrugged and returned his attention to his book.</p><p>“Cute.  Are you really not concerned about this at all?  Really?”</p><p>Henry looked up from his book again and met Alex’s eyes.  “I am rather concerned that my Cornettos will melt,” he admitted.</p><p>Alex boggled.  “That is your priority here?  Ice cream?  When my life is collapsing before my very eyes?”</p><p>Henry’s expression shifted to bland patience.  “I think you’re exaggerating rather a lot, Alex.”</p><p>Alex gasped.  “This is one of the most important papers of the quarter!  And I need to stick it to Lindholm.”</p><p>“Alex, it was a passing comment about how busy your schedule is, not a declaration of-”</p><p>“Henry!  We’ve been over this,” Alex snapped.</p><p>Henry sighed.  “Yes, dear.”</p><p>Alex pressed his head against Henry’s thigh, his racing mind finally beginning to calm as thoughts of how comfortable this position was crept in.  “I still think it’s rather extravagant of you to have your favorite ice cream specially shipped here so you could have a stock of them in our vacation fridge.”</p><p>Henry huffed.  “It’s precisely <i>because</i> it is our holiday that I did.  We’ve waited a long time for this break and I don’t intend to settle for a subpar replacement of my Cornettos.”</p><p>“Drumsticks are not that bad.”</p><p>Henry only grunted in response and returned to his book.</p><p>“Back to the real point here, what am I going to do?  Do you remember if we passed a Starbucks on the way out here?  I can probably get Cash to drive me to one so I can finish on their wifi.  If they have power.  Oh, no, what if they don’t have power?”  And the panic was back.  Alex’s voice might, <i>might,</i> have gotten a little high and frantic at the end there.</p><p>Henry sighed and put his book aside.  “You are running on a severe lack of sleep, a nearly lethal amount of caffeine, and a fair amount of spite, so I’ll forgive you for failing to see the obvious solution to your problem.”</p><p>Alex could feel his eyelid begin to twitch.  It might be the caffeine, yes, but it was equally possible to attribute to Henry being insufferable.  “And that is?” he asked through clenched teeth.</p><p>“Your laptop still has,” Henry paused, leaning over Alex’s body to peer at his computer.  “Fifty-eight percent battery.  Finish your paper, connect your computer to your phone’s hotspot long enough to upload to the usual backups and submit the paper, and voilà.  Disaster averted.  And if you need more time than your battery has available — which you should not, mind you, since you’ve been assuring me all evening that you are mere keystrokes away from being finished and able to actually spend time with me on our holiday — then you also have both our tablets as backup.   And then your phone itself if the situation becomes truly dire.”</p><p>“I… suppose you’re right,” Alex conceded, the clenching fist holding his stomach in its grip finally beginning to loosen.</p><p>“Indeed,” replied Henry, returning his attention to his book but continuing to scratch the fingers of his spare hand across Alex's scalp.  “Meanwhile, my Cornettos will continue to melt into an unidentifiable mush.”</p><p>Alex sighed and patted Henry’s knee.  “Okay, yours is a good plan.  We’ll go with that plan.  And I really am nearly finished.  I just need to make sure I’ve supported my conclusion fully and ripped out all the fluff that my political background likes to sneak in there.”</p><p>He looked up to find Henry gazing at him with an unconvinced expression.  “The conclusion that takes place at the beginning of the paper?”</p><p>Alex snorted.  He had subjected Henry to an irritated commentary on legal writing more than once, that first year.  “The conclusion that is at the beginning <i>and</i> the end of the paper, yes.”</p><p>“Hmmm.”</p><p>Alex sat up, stretching vigorously enough that he heard <i>several</i> things in his back pop.  “Okay, how’s this.  Why don’t you go and give one of your poor Cornettos a dignified end and see if this place has any flashlights or lanterns stored away for occasions such as this.  I will follow your sage advice and get this last assignment dealt with so we can finally start our vacation.”</p><p>Henry, once he was done wincing at the symphony that was Alex’s spine, stood and turned towards the kitchen.  “That seems reasonable.”  </p><p>Henry’s <i>that’s the first reasonable statement you’ve made all afternoon, in fact</i> was left unsaid, much to Alex’s relief.  </p><p>And now that he was thinking somewhat more clearly, his empty stomach was beginning to make itself known.</p><p>“Henry?”  Alex called to his retreating back.  “Will you bring me a Cornetto?”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If you would like to throw a few prompts into my basket please feel free to leave them here or over on twitter: @BluegeekEm</p></blockquote><div class="children module" id="children">
  <b class="heading">Works inspired by this one:</b>
  <ul>
    <li>
        <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26907061">Ice Cream and Impending Doom [Podfic]</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluegeekEM/pseuds/bluegeekEM">bluegeekEM</a>
    </li>
  </ul>
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